Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Coming Back!
It has been a while but now that my life is a little more sane I plan to start giving those fingers a good keyboard work out and get back to blogging! What else does a mom of two have to do now that I left my full time job! I guess I will have to give a running commentary on my thoughts on the state of our nation and the upcoming election to keep myself busy! It will at the very least keep my mental chops active after a full day of playing make believe with my kids which is honestly so much more refreshing then listen to adults act like children. Okay off to watch the State of the Union so I can hear about all that Obama has accomplished being that he is the President and hopefully people will realize that he is actually running against children, small, petty little brats really. It's going to be an interesting 10 months, I can't wait to see a victory for Obama in November and if he loses I will have to seriously think about moving to an island away from all the crazy people who just really want to make the world better for the embryos and children . . .oh and their god corporate America. Peace People!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Healthcare and Our Fall from Grace
“The Path to Prosperity.” This is the cover page to the GOP budget proposal proudly displayed by Rep. Paul Ryan and John Boehner. Prosperity for who? I recently read an interesting article on the Huffington Post about what the budget proposal would do to our already strained healthcare system and it isn’t good. You can read the article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/10/gop-budget-uninsured_n_860032.html
Basically it would decimate Medicaid, and millions more would be left uninsured. Medicaid currently covers some 60 million people and it is estimated to cover 76 million by 2021. Under the plan by the GOP the Kaiser Foundation estimates that 30-40 million people will lose coverage. Of course this plan doesn’t have a chance of being passed in the senate or by the President but it illustrates what can only be described as an all out war on the lower middle class and poor in this country not to mention that if we don’t get healthcare under control we are going to continue to decimate our economy and guess what tax payers, you are going to continue to pay the price of covering costly ER visits and skyrocketing premiums. All these items could and should start to be resolved through the Affordable Care Act passed last year. Weak as it is, it is a step in the right direction in starting to rein in the out of control fees associated with healthcare, unless of course it is repelled or stripped down.
Now let me paint you a different picture, one closer to home for most of you. I have a friend who works hard, has 2 kids, and has come upon some very difficult times. We will call my friend Ted. Ted and his family are in the real estate business so let’s just say his regular income has been decimated by the crash. His wife went back to work but can’t find a job with health insurance and his office doesn’t offer coverage and they lost their private insurance because they couldn’t afford it. Just recently Ted had an accident where he slipped and fell on his driveway and busted his elbow. It is not broken but it is hurt and he can’t use it or straighten it out. He isn’t sure what he did to his elbow but he isn’t going to have it looked at because he is afraid of the cost and doesn’t have health insurance. If he lived in Europe he could walk into any hospital and be treated. I am sure he can do the same thing here, except here it will cost him thousands of dollars for an x-ray, or an MRI plus treatment and can you imagine if he needed surgery? I know there are programs in place to help the poor but Ted is not poor, he just can’t afford his insurance and still put food on the table. Ted is just like you, but has fallen on some hard times and could possibly face being crippled because he can’t get care. It sounds like the dark ages but this is happening in 2011.
There are probably thousands of people out there just like Ted and as a nation what message are we sending to these people? Sorry, we are going to take Medicaid and other programs meant to act as a safety net away and you will just have to figure it out. Meanwhile insurance companies keep making profits hand over fist, the defense budget grows, education is slashed and the wealthy get wealthier. What does this say about our society? Are our values so shallow that we only care about the wealthy, warfare and corporate profits? We are supposedly to some, most definitely not me, a Christian nation. Well what would Jesus say about this nation today? Shouldn’t we care about our citizens, all of them, even the ones that we so often say are lazy and take advantage of the system? Those losers let them suffer and be miserable but it is okay because I am fine. Hmmm, not very Christian is it? There are for sure those that take advantage but more than not there are just a lot of hard working people with limited opportunities due to an ever increasing population that is slipping further and further into an abyss and that abyss is getting larger and larger and more and more are succumbing to its pull. If I could illustrate it with paint and a canvas perhaps it would be a modern day painting of “The Garden of Earthly Delights” a truly frightening painting from about the 1500’s that in some scholar’s minds displays the moral decay of the time or a warning of what will happen when morality declines.
Finally, what boggles my mind the most is this whole notion of small government and what is truly constitutional. When the government first formed we were a tiny country in our infancy. We are now a population of over 300 million. You can’t shrink the government and still care for a population of this size. This isn’t the 1700’s any more. In the 1700’s if you got sick you went and saw a doctor and you paid him with eggs or a chicken and a nice dinner. But as society grows you/we/the whole have to grow and change with it. We have to move forward and our thinking has to evolve with the times, which is what the Framers had in mind when they created the constitution. We can take care of our people, provide affordable care and not be communist/socialist and still have the American dream of LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This dream is going to die hard for millions of people if we don’t stand up to the Tea Party and the GOP and say enough is enough. Healthcare is not a privilege in an advanced society it’s a right. In today’s world no one should suffer from a fall and face being crippled for life because they came upon hard times. They should be able to go into a hospital, get treatment and walk out with their dignity. There is a war brewing out there and it’s time for every day people to stand up and start talking, I fear if we don’t then more and more of the middle class is going to be chipped away and eventually it will be to late to save this country. Like the third panel in the painting of “The Garden of Earthly Delights," America will be in an abyss, a dark black hole looking up at the light of the developing world and as we tumble further into the abyss and the light slowly fades to black we will truly fall from grace. The death of the American dream will be complete. This might not happen next year or even in ten years, but if we continue on this path it’s the future I see.
Basically it would decimate Medicaid, and millions more would be left uninsured. Medicaid currently covers some 60 million people and it is estimated to cover 76 million by 2021. Under the plan by the GOP the Kaiser Foundation estimates that 30-40 million people will lose coverage. Of course this plan doesn’t have a chance of being passed in the senate or by the President but it illustrates what can only be described as an all out war on the lower middle class and poor in this country not to mention that if we don’t get healthcare under control we are going to continue to decimate our economy and guess what tax payers, you are going to continue to pay the price of covering costly ER visits and skyrocketing premiums. All these items could and should start to be resolved through the Affordable Care Act passed last year. Weak as it is, it is a step in the right direction in starting to rein in the out of control fees associated with healthcare, unless of course it is repelled or stripped down.
Now let me paint you a different picture, one closer to home for most of you. I have a friend who works hard, has 2 kids, and has come upon some very difficult times. We will call my friend Ted. Ted and his family are in the real estate business so let’s just say his regular income has been decimated by the crash. His wife went back to work but can’t find a job with health insurance and his office doesn’t offer coverage and they lost their private insurance because they couldn’t afford it. Just recently Ted had an accident where he slipped and fell on his driveway and busted his elbow. It is not broken but it is hurt and he can’t use it or straighten it out. He isn’t sure what he did to his elbow but he isn’t going to have it looked at because he is afraid of the cost and doesn’t have health insurance. If he lived in Europe he could walk into any hospital and be treated. I am sure he can do the same thing here, except here it will cost him thousands of dollars for an x-ray, or an MRI plus treatment and can you imagine if he needed surgery? I know there are programs in place to help the poor but Ted is not poor, he just can’t afford his insurance and still put food on the table. Ted is just like you, but has fallen on some hard times and could possibly face being crippled because he can’t get care. It sounds like the dark ages but this is happening in 2011.
There are probably thousands of people out there just like Ted and as a nation what message are we sending to these people? Sorry, we are going to take Medicaid and other programs meant to act as a safety net away and you will just have to figure it out. Meanwhile insurance companies keep making profits hand over fist, the defense budget grows, education is slashed and the wealthy get wealthier. What does this say about our society? Are our values so shallow that we only care about the wealthy, warfare and corporate profits? We are supposedly to some, most definitely not me, a Christian nation. Well what would Jesus say about this nation today? Shouldn’t we care about our citizens, all of them, even the ones that we so often say are lazy and take advantage of the system? Those losers let them suffer and be miserable but it is okay because I am fine. Hmmm, not very Christian is it? There are for sure those that take advantage but more than not there are just a lot of hard working people with limited opportunities due to an ever increasing population that is slipping further and further into an abyss and that abyss is getting larger and larger and more and more are succumbing to its pull. If I could illustrate it with paint and a canvas perhaps it would be a modern day painting of “The Garden of Earthly Delights” a truly frightening painting from about the 1500’s that in some scholar’s minds displays the moral decay of the time or a warning of what will happen when morality declines.
Finally, what boggles my mind the most is this whole notion of small government and what is truly constitutional. When the government first formed we were a tiny country in our infancy. We are now a population of over 300 million. You can’t shrink the government and still care for a population of this size. This isn’t the 1700’s any more. In the 1700’s if you got sick you went and saw a doctor and you paid him with eggs or a chicken and a nice dinner. But as society grows you/we/the whole have to grow and change with it. We have to move forward and our thinking has to evolve with the times, which is what the Framers had in mind when they created the constitution. We can take care of our people, provide affordable care and not be communist/socialist and still have the American dream of LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This dream is going to die hard for millions of people if we don’t stand up to the Tea Party and the GOP and say enough is enough. Healthcare is not a privilege in an advanced society it’s a right. In today’s world no one should suffer from a fall and face being crippled for life because they came upon hard times. They should be able to go into a hospital, get treatment and walk out with their dignity. There is a war brewing out there and it’s time for every day people to stand up and start talking, I fear if we don’t then more and more of the middle class is going to be chipped away and eventually it will be to late to save this country. Like the third panel in the painting of “The Garden of Earthly Delights," America will be in an abyss, a dark black hole looking up at the light of the developing world and as we tumble further into the abyss and the light slowly fades to black we will truly fall from grace. The death of the American dream will be complete. This might not happen next year or even in ten years, but if we continue on this path it’s the future I see.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Why America Will Continue to Fail
#1: The republican front runners today are Michelle Bachman, The Donald (I know so sad) and Mitt Romney, a man who created a state wide health program in Massachutes that was the model for the national healthcare plan that Romney now wants to repeal. These are your choices today conservatives, how does it feel? Not good I hope. Donald Trump is a one man freak show and at best will provide comedians with enough material to last well into the next decade. Michelle Bachman is the new poster girl for demigods and Mitt Romney is the new poster boy for flip floppers, lets just call him Floppy Romney. We have serious issues in this country and we need serious candidates on both sides, not a right wing show of corporate greed and fairy tale believers. Obama should be feeling pretty good for right now because if this is his competition he should have no problem winning in 2012. Of course the year is young and who knows who else will step forward but let’s hope it is someone who can talk substance and has a platform that runs deeper then not cutting taxes, abortion and God.
#2: America is on a precipice, one that depending on which way we fall will shape the country and its people for years to come. Are we going to anoint the freaks or are we going to demand serious people with serious and real ideas to help us out of the mess we are currently in? The Democrats are the last fail safe we have against extreme right wing ideology. If we continue to let those like Bachman and for example Rep. Paul Ryan have a stage in politics we will continue to tread water and waste time. I find it amazing how many people came out and praised Paul Ryan’s budget, even Fareed Zakaria who I generally respect and like called his budget a good effort if not completely misguided. REALLY? What does that mean? Would a college professor tell a student well you did a pretty good job, all the words were spelled correctly in your paper and the grammar structure was good but you completely missed the entire point of the assignment, as a matter of fact you didn’t even read the right book! NO, the student would get an F. Paul Ryan and the congressional Republicans get an F on the budget in my opinion. How much time and effort was wasted trying to eliminate NPR, Planned Parenthood and other “entitlement” programs, where was the serious discussion about cutting the defense budget, continuing to reform healthcare, farm subsidies, raising taxes, oh right those don’t happen because that would just be un-American. Bill Maher has a great prop on his show, a plate of food, a large portion of mashed potatoes, chicken and some other side and then garnish, the garnish is the middle class and let me tell you, we have about one tiny sprig left on the plate, but no one touch the mashed potatoes and the chicken.
#3: President Obama, I blame him as well, not for the mess we are in but for how it has been handled since he took office. He needs to sack up and stand up to these extreme politicians, John Boehner and company to name a few. I want a president with some chutzpah who is going to put on some boxing gloves and get in the game. The conservative PR machine is excellent, so excellent it has convinced the middle class and poor that they are part of the great wealth and opportunity of this country and Obama and the Dems are going to take away from them something they have never and will currently never have, millions of dollars. Can the Democrats hire those guys because they need a restoration campaign and some lions of their own or else nothing and I mean nothing is going to change and things are only going to get worse.
#4: The American people. Here lies the crux of the issue. You – yes you, an ordinary American person, going to work every day, sipping your latte or serving that latte, driving your car, or taking the bus, listening to your iPod and twittering away, you need to wake up, educate yourself, turn off talk radio and turn on NPR, the news (but not FOX, sorry) and get in the game. This is your country, your home, your people, even the ones who look different then you and make less then you. The man on the corner with a sign, the women on the corner with a sign, the McDonalds worker and even the guy who makes more then you, the corporate CEO we are beholden to each other, a thought so totally un-American and socialist that I am sure just writing it will put me on a watch list but it is an undeniable truth, we are beholden to each other and we have to learn to help each other, care about each other and be nice to each other. We need to care about everything from the soil we eat from to the water we drink to the energy we use, to how we spend our money, individually and as a country, to every single struggling family we hear about and everything else in between. Then we need to elect serious, educated people to help solve these problems, preferable people who will not cave to lobbyists, no small feat I am sure, and who are willing to think outside of the proverbial “Washington DC” box. We need to move away from electing people on moral issues that will never ever be truly solved in the political arena and realize that it’s not God that is going to save us but ourselves. If we continue to elect people into office like Michelle Bachman who want to rewrite history, campaign on abortion and the evil EPA well guess what America you reap what you sow and what you are sowing is the destruction of the American dream, the continuation of corporate greed, you are feeding the top 1% of this country with your livelihoods, and guess what, gays are still going to be together, babies are still going to be aborted and the middle class is going to slip further and further into the abyss. Read it weep, without real change that is the future I see.
#2: America is on a precipice, one that depending on which way we fall will shape the country and its people for years to come. Are we going to anoint the freaks or are we going to demand serious people with serious and real ideas to help us out of the mess we are currently in? The Democrats are the last fail safe we have against extreme right wing ideology. If we continue to let those like Bachman and for example Rep. Paul Ryan have a stage in politics we will continue to tread water and waste time. I find it amazing how many people came out and praised Paul Ryan’s budget, even Fareed Zakaria who I generally respect and like called his budget a good effort if not completely misguided. REALLY? What does that mean? Would a college professor tell a student well you did a pretty good job, all the words were spelled correctly in your paper and the grammar structure was good but you completely missed the entire point of the assignment, as a matter of fact you didn’t even read the right book! NO, the student would get an F. Paul Ryan and the congressional Republicans get an F on the budget in my opinion. How much time and effort was wasted trying to eliminate NPR, Planned Parenthood and other “entitlement” programs, where was the serious discussion about cutting the defense budget, continuing to reform healthcare, farm subsidies, raising taxes, oh right those don’t happen because that would just be un-American. Bill Maher has a great prop on his show, a plate of food, a large portion of mashed potatoes, chicken and some other side and then garnish, the garnish is the middle class and let me tell you, we have about one tiny sprig left on the plate, but no one touch the mashed potatoes and the chicken.
#3: President Obama, I blame him as well, not for the mess we are in but for how it has been handled since he took office. He needs to sack up and stand up to these extreme politicians, John Boehner and company to name a few. I want a president with some chutzpah who is going to put on some boxing gloves and get in the game. The conservative PR machine is excellent, so excellent it has convinced the middle class and poor that they are part of the great wealth and opportunity of this country and Obama and the Dems are going to take away from them something they have never and will currently never have, millions of dollars. Can the Democrats hire those guys because they need a restoration campaign and some lions of their own or else nothing and I mean nothing is going to change and things are only going to get worse.
#4: The American people. Here lies the crux of the issue. You – yes you, an ordinary American person, going to work every day, sipping your latte or serving that latte, driving your car, or taking the bus, listening to your iPod and twittering away, you need to wake up, educate yourself, turn off talk radio and turn on NPR, the news (but not FOX, sorry) and get in the game. This is your country, your home, your people, even the ones who look different then you and make less then you. The man on the corner with a sign, the women on the corner with a sign, the McDonalds worker and even the guy who makes more then you, the corporate CEO we are beholden to each other, a thought so totally un-American and socialist that I am sure just writing it will put me on a watch list but it is an undeniable truth, we are beholden to each other and we have to learn to help each other, care about each other and be nice to each other. We need to care about everything from the soil we eat from to the water we drink to the energy we use, to how we spend our money, individually and as a country, to every single struggling family we hear about and everything else in between. Then we need to elect serious, educated people to help solve these problems, preferable people who will not cave to lobbyists, no small feat I am sure, and who are willing to think outside of the proverbial “Washington DC” box. We need to move away from electing people on moral issues that will never ever be truly solved in the political arena and realize that it’s not God that is going to save us but ourselves. If we continue to elect people into office like Michelle Bachman who want to rewrite history, campaign on abortion and the evil EPA well guess what America you reap what you sow and what you are sowing is the destruction of the American dream, the continuation of corporate greed, you are feeding the top 1% of this country with your livelihoods, and guess what, gays are still going to be together, babies are still going to be aborted and the middle class is going to slip further and further into the abyss. Read it weep, without real change that is the future I see.
Friday, February 18, 2011
What I know?
During the course of the day today I have read a handful of articles scattered across the web and I’m left with such a sad feeling of helplessness against the forces at work in this country. I’m constantly telling my husband that the issues facing America today are so complicated that I really do believe it is too hard for the average American to understand and I am not trying to sound like an elitist when I say this. I am not even going to pretend I understand the ins and outs of the budget or what the new finance reform bill covers. The defense budget this year is proposed at 708 billion dollars and I couldn't tell you what that covers, what is needed and wasted. I am not an expert in every field. But here is what I can tell you:
I know that we have one of the best if not the best military on earth and if we took a few billion from the defense budget and allocated it to schools and invested in our children's education we would still have the most powerful military on earth and we would have well educated young people to run the military in the future.
I know that the fat cats on Wall Street make billions and some get taxed at a 15% tax rate through a special loophole (their income is often taxed at the capital gains rate) while the rest of us get taxed at a much higher rate. Why not raise their taxes and lower ours? Why isn't the Tea Party fighting that battle for the common good? Robert Reich in a post on the Huffington Post had this staggering statistic, “Last year, America's top thirteen hedge-fund managers earned an average of $1 billion each. One of them took home $5 billion. Much of their income is taxed as capital gains -- at 15 percent -- due to a tax loophole that Republican members of Congress have steadfastly guarded. If the earnings of those thirteen hedge-fund managers were taxed as ordinary income, the revenues generated would pay the salaries and benefits of over 5 million teachers. Who is more valuable to our society -- thirteen hedge-fund managers or 5 million teachers?” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-republican-strategy_b_825206.html
Really? If this doesn’t make you angry then you either have your head in the sand or you are a complete idiot, or both. This is what people are talking about when the say the highest concentration of wealth is with the top 1% of earners. The middle class in this country that supported the Republicans and the Tea Party and want smaller government should take a look at this statistic and then readjust their thinking. Hey Republican controlled congress, you want to shrink the budget gap, take a look at the tax code, not Planned Parenthood, NPR and Public Broadcasting.
I know that NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have some of the best reporting, journalist and educational programs around and what do the Republicans and Tea Party candidates want to do to it, slash or eliminate their budget as if this will solve the budget shortfall. Truly they don't like these institutions because they are the last man standing for unbiased and true grit reporting. I know the truth hurts and Republicans and radical Tea Party folks want to shut them down.
I know that the EPA tries to keep our waters safe, our soil clean and air breathable but what do Republicans want to do with the EPA, eliminate it and create a program that promotes jobs and allows companies to grow (translation make more money, pay less taxes and fines) and destroy our environment in the process because let’s face it all the evidence in the world shows that left to their own machinations big companies will cut every corner in the book on safety to save the almighty dollar. All together now everyone say Hinckley or more recently Gulf Coast Oil disaster.
I could go on and on about what I know and don’t know but what I really want to know is what do you know? What do you believe? Do you really think cutting programs like PBS, NPR, Planned Parenthood and destroying the EPA is going to make this country, better, stronger or is this just a straight up attack by a group of radical people in our government to strip away and destroy what is left of anything good in this country? Republicans and the Tea Party are using smoke screens and mirrors to make people believe their rights are being trampled on and that Obama and the Democrats are to blame for their troubles and trying to turn their beloved America into a socialist state, when really the Republicans and the Tea Party are going to turn this country into something we have never ever seen and guess who is going to suffer the most, the poor and the middle class. Wake up America, educate yourselves and get involved. Stop voting for people because of their views on abortion and because you like that they attend church. Look at the young people in Egypt, and across the middle east, they are fighting for a better life (let’s hope) and I say we stand up and say enough is enough as well because it might be your young children in 20 years protesting in the streets because of low wages, stagnation, and other terrible inequities in the land of freedom and equal opportunity. What do you think?
I know that we have one of the best if not the best military on earth and if we took a few billion from the defense budget and allocated it to schools and invested in our children's education we would still have the most powerful military on earth and we would have well educated young people to run the military in the future.
I know that the fat cats on Wall Street make billions and some get taxed at a 15% tax rate through a special loophole (their income is often taxed at the capital gains rate) while the rest of us get taxed at a much higher rate. Why not raise their taxes and lower ours? Why isn't the Tea Party fighting that battle for the common good? Robert Reich in a post on the Huffington Post had this staggering statistic, “Last year, America's top thirteen hedge-fund managers earned an average of $1 billion each. One of them took home $5 billion. Much of their income is taxed as capital gains -- at 15 percent -- due to a tax loophole that Republican members of Congress have steadfastly guarded. If the earnings of those thirteen hedge-fund managers were taxed as ordinary income, the revenues generated would pay the salaries and benefits of over 5 million teachers. Who is more valuable to our society -- thirteen hedge-fund managers or 5 million teachers?” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-republican-strategy_b_825206.html
Really? If this doesn’t make you angry then you either have your head in the sand or you are a complete idiot, or both. This is what people are talking about when the say the highest concentration of wealth is with the top 1% of earners. The middle class in this country that supported the Republicans and the Tea Party and want smaller government should take a look at this statistic and then readjust their thinking. Hey Republican controlled congress, you want to shrink the budget gap, take a look at the tax code, not Planned Parenthood, NPR and Public Broadcasting.
I know that NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have some of the best reporting, journalist and educational programs around and what do the Republicans and Tea Party candidates want to do to it, slash or eliminate their budget as if this will solve the budget shortfall. Truly they don't like these institutions because they are the last man standing for unbiased and true grit reporting. I know the truth hurts and Republicans and radical Tea Party folks want to shut them down.
I know that the EPA tries to keep our waters safe, our soil clean and air breathable but what do Republicans want to do with the EPA, eliminate it and create a program that promotes jobs and allows companies to grow (translation make more money, pay less taxes and fines) and destroy our environment in the process because let’s face it all the evidence in the world shows that left to their own machinations big companies will cut every corner in the book on safety to save the almighty dollar. All together now everyone say Hinckley or more recently Gulf Coast Oil disaster.
I could go on and on about what I know and don’t know but what I really want to know is what do you know? What do you believe? Do you really think cutting programs like PBS, NPR, Planned Parenthood and destroying the EPA is going to make this country, better, stronger or is this just a straight up attack by a group of radical people in our government to strip away and destroy what is left of anything good in this country? Republicans and the Tea Party are using smoke screens and mirrors to make people believe their rights are being trampled on and that Obama and the Democrats are to blame for their troubles and trying to turn their beloved America into a socialist state, when really the Republicans and the Tea Party are going to turn this country into something we have never ever seen and guess who is going to suffer the most, the poor and the middle class. Wake up America, educate yourselves and get involved. Stop voting for people because of their views on abortion and because you like that they attend church. Look at the young people in Egypt, and across the middle east, they are fighting for a better life (let’s hope) and I say we stand up and say enough is enough as well because it might be your young children in 20 years protesting in the streets because of low wages, stagnation, and other terrible inequities in the land of freedom and equal opportunity. What do you think?
Monday, June 7, 2010
Helen Thomas
I'm sure that some of you are going to disagree with me here but it's amazing to me that a women who has been working the white house press core for more then 4 decades can lose her job over night while people like Glen Beck, Rush, Anne Coulter and Michelle Malkin can spew their lies all over the airwaves (with hardly any repercussions) on a daily basis shows just how upside down and stupid this country has truly become. Granted what Helen Thomas said was irresponsible, insensitive and of course totally unrealistic however I don't think she should have been fired for it which is basically what happened. The women has been up until a few days ago one of the most distinguished journalist on the white house press core. I understand that this country has deep ties with Israel and they are a powerful alley but I think it is unfair that Helen Thomas is treated like some horrible villain for again what was a very stupid comment when others can lie daily and hardly anyone bats an eyelash. It's maddening. Joseph Farah of World Daily Net on daily basis accuses Obama of not being a US citizen and some sort of communist Nazi yet do you ever hear people like Ari Fleischer (you know the really honest and upstanding person that he is) coming on CNN complaining about how offensive he is?? NO, I don't think so. But Fleischer didn't waste any time coming on to CNN yesterday to complain about how horrible Thomas is. Interesting where our priorities lie. I understand what Thomas said would be deeply offensive to many people but should a career as long as hers come to a halt over one off handed comment, no matter how off-base, I just don't think I'm comfortable with the destruction of one women's career over this. It's sad and although I don't agree with her comments in any way, I think what is more sad is we can go on the attack like this because of her comments about Israel but others can lie without repute daily and we (media & public) turn a deaf ear and laugh it off. I'm not sure which is more offensive.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37555003/ns/politics/
Thoughts?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37555003/ns/politics/
Thoughts?
Monday, May 24, 2010
All Things Lost
Hello Fellow Lost Fans,
I thought I would take a break from the serious and post something on Lost.
Below are a few links to some articles that I found this morning on the web. The first one is Jeff (Doc) Jensen’s recap of Lost which is always great!
I really liked the finale and the more I think about it the more I like it. There are some unanswered questions for sure. The mysteries of the Island will for the most part stay a mystery but perhaps that is for each person to ponder. Like each of the castaways we will never fully know what the island is and what it is to each person is personal. I think the island is just a mythic or spiritual place existing in real time that has all sorts of powers that have all different effects on the people who come in contact with it. For a while it might have even been a place to keep evil at bay. You could say Jacob made a horrible mistake by pushing his brother into the cavern of light and thus creating MIB and for the rest of Jacob’s time on the island it remained important that this creation of evil never left. You could also say that the island needed to be protected only because of its uniqueness in the world and that alone was reason enough to sacrifice so much to keep it safe. Or perhaps it really is a center spot on earth that balances good and evil. Obviously the island has had many protectors over time. Hurly will just be the next person in what is sure to be a long linage of guardians. And Ben as his second in command truly represents a whole circle completed. Ben wanted only to stay on the island, the love of his life and Hurly the lovable Stars Wars quoting big guy reluctantly accepted his fate but the two of them combined equal a whole. Ben the darker persona and Hurly the good natured and kind persona and together they represent a new balance to watch over the island. Ben even foreshadows this idea by saying that Hurley didn’t need to do things the same way that Jacob did, i.e. he has a choice in how things are to go.
As for the sideways world it was of course touching to see each person awaken and find their soul mates or in the case of John and others like Boone reconnect with their castaway family before moving on. I think that the fate of each of these people were so intertwined that it made a nice allegory that they could not move on to the next world until they all came together in death. Their most profound experiences in life happened together on the island and so they needed each other to move on to the next place. Their experiences in those few months or years transcended everything else in their lives, their souls were bonded beyond what was physical or corporeal.
I think if you believed in and cared about these characters and their lives then the ending was satisfying, you could say that for all they suffered in the end they were rewarded and united. If you cared more about the island and wanted definitive answers then this might have left you with an empty feeling. I think I care less about having every island question answered and I am more satisfied knowing what happened to each of these characters. Also, what did everyone thing of the airplane wreckage and the significance, if any, of it being shown at the end? What did all of you think? I am so curious to know?
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20313460_20387946,00.html
EW Recap part I, part II comes tomorrow
http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/24/final-lost-one-for-the-ages/?hpt=Sbin
http://tv.yahoo.com/lost/show/36617/news/tv-news.en.ap.org/tv-news.en.ap.org-20100524-us_tv_lost_finale
http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/05/23/lost-finale-recap-spoilers/
This review is good just to see people’s comments and thoughts. They start at the end of the article.
I thought I would take a break from the serious and post something on Lost.
Below are a few links to some articles that I found this morning on the web. The first one is Jeff (Doc) Jensen’s recap of Lost which is always great!
I really liked the finale and the more I think about it the more I like it. There are some unanswered questions for sure. The mysteries of the Island will for the most part stay a mystery but perhaps that is for each person to ponder. Like each of the castaways we will never fully know what the island is and what it is to each person is personal. I think the island is just a mythic or spiritual place existing in real time that has all sorts of powers that have all different effects on the people who come in contact with it. For a while it might have even been a place to keep evil at bay. You could say Jacob made a horrible mistake by pushing his brother into the cavern of light and thus creating MIB and for the rest of Jacob’s time on the island it remained important that this creation of evil never left. You could also say that the island needed to be protected only because of its uniqueness in the world and that alone was reason enough to sacrifice so much to keep it safe. Or perhaps it really is a center spot on earth that balances good and evil. Obviously the island has had many protectors over time. Hurly will just be the next person in what is sure to be a long linage of guardians. And Ben as his second in command truly represents a whole circle completed. Ben wanted only to stay on the island, the love of his life and Hurly the lovable Stars Wars quoting big guy reluctantly accepted his fate but the two of them combined equal a whole. Ben the darker persona and Hurly the good natured and kind persona and together they represent a new balance to watch over the island. Ben even foreshadows this idea by saying that Hurley didn’t need to do things the same way that Jacob did, i.e. he has a choice in how things are to go.
As for the sideways world it was of course touching to see each person awaken and find their soul mates or in the case of John and others like Boone reconnect with their castaway family before moving on. I think that the fate of each of these people were so intertwined that it made a nice allegory that they could not move on to the next world until they all came together in death. Their most profound experiences in life happened together on the island and so they needed each other to move on to the next place. Their experiences in those few months or years transcended everything else in their lives, their souls were bonded beyond what was physical or corporeal.
I think if you believed in and cared about these characters and their lives then the ending was satisfying, you could say that for all they suffered in the end they were rewarded and united. If you cared more about the island and wanted definitive answers then this might have left you with an empty feeling. I think I care less about having every island question answered and I am more satisfied knowing what happened to each of these characters. Also, what did everyone thing of the airplane wreckage and the significance, if any, of it being shown at the end? What did all of you think? I am so curious to know?
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20313460_20387946,00.html
EW Recap part I, part II comes tomorrow
http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/24/final-lost-one-for-the-ages/?hpt=Sbin
http://tv.yahoo.com/lost/show/36617/news/tv-news.en.ap.org/tv-news.en.ap.org-20100524-us_tv_lost_finale
http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/05/23/lost-finale-recap-spoilers/
This review is good just to see people’s comments and thoughts. They start at the end of the article.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Arizona Immigration Reform: A Teaspoon to Clean an Oil Slick
This last week I have been contemplating a blog on Goldman Sachs which will be forthcoming but instead I have chosen to focus on the Arizona Immigration Bill since it has been the dominate discussion point on talk radio, the internet and the TV news stations. This bill is a lightening rod for sure and although I believe the bill to be a useless and ill-conceived piece of legislation enacted by a desperate group of political nut jobs hopefully it will bring attention to the serious issue of immigration reform. First let’s talk about this bill. If anyone thinks this is going to actually help put a stop to illegal immigration then I want what you’re smoking (I will just dedicate that line to Bill Maher). This law is going to allow police officers to racially profile anyone with dark skin. If I am a Latino American living in Arizona I would be outraged that I can be stopped at anytime and asked to present identification. The bill is very vague about what the criteria is for stopping some one other then saying, “reasonable suspicion.” (See the link below for a summary of this bill) What exactly does that mean, reasonable suspicion? Does it mean that a bilingual Mexican American speaking to a friend in Spanish can cause suspicion and then questioning? What if they forgot their driver’s license that day or lost it the night before, are they going to be arrested? After all they are of Mexican decent, with no identification on them. Is the officer going to take their word for it that they are American or arrest them on “reasonable suspicion?” These are American citizens who are going to be effected and yes the legislation has been created to target illegal aliens but how will the police be able to differentiate between those that are illegal and those that are citizens? They won’t and therefore citizens of this country who have brown skin and live in Arizona are going to live in constant annoyance if not fear of being sought out by the police. I might be simplifying the issue here but this bill is trying to simplify an issue that is highly complex and extremely diverse. This is not going to stop illegal immigration. It’s like saying let’s clean up our latest oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico with a tin fishing boat and a teaspoon. Sure maybe you will get a little bit of oil but the rest is just going to slip further and further away. Maybe this bill will help Arizona, all the illegal aliens there will just go to California, New Mexico, Utah or Texas. What we need is real reform at the Federal level that will actually make a difference.
What kind of legislation would actually make a difference in immigration are the questions and answers we should be seeking. What do you do with the estimated 8-12 million or more illegal people here already? You can’t round them up and ship them off to Mexico, Cuba, China and other countries of origin because it would cost trillions of dollars and it would take forever. And in the particular case of Mexico they are part of the problem. They are overrun by drug lords and a corrupt government, they have little industry and a huge population. Can you blame people for wanting to come across the boarder to America, the land of opportunity? I don’t know about you but if I had the choice of living in abject poverty in Mexico, becoming a drug mule or literally working for pennies a day or I could come to America illegally and make some decent cash I know what options and risks I would take. And when you look at the situation in this light it also becomes a humanitarian issue. Not so simple is it? That’s right this is complicated, far more complicated then profiling someone’s skin color and tossing them back over the boarder. Maybe in Arizona they will catch 1000 people with this new law and big deal we will still have 11, 999,000 more illegal people in this country. Teaspoon to oil slick folks, it’s just not going to make a difference. These are some of the questions we should be asking and as far as the answers, I definitely don’t have all of them but here are some ideas. You legalize as many of these aliens as possible as long as they don’t have a criminal record here or in Mexico. You give them green cards and put them on the path to citizen ship. You force them to pay taxes and get jobs at minimum wage or higher and you force employers to hire people legally and pay the taxes involved in having legal employees. The argument is these aliens are taking jobs away from hard working Americans. The truth is these aliens make it possible for employers to pay them at substandard wages and employers don’t have to pay taxes for these employees since they are off the books. Therefore they are not taking jobs away from Americans because Americans would never be hired for these jobs in the first place. The next step is to close our boarders in some real sense. I heard Ed Shultz interviewing Pat Buchanan on the radio today about having the National Guard patrol our boarders or the US Army. Not a bad idea in my book. Instead of spending billions on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan let’s bring some of these troops home and have them close off our boarders in Texas, California and Arizona. If they can bring order to Iraq then surely the can bring some order to the US boarders. This would make a huge difference in stopping illegal aliens from entering the country not to mention it would put a major dent in stopping illegal drugs and the people shipping them into this country as well. Now take all of this and ask congress to pass some sort of reasonable immigration reform and you will see where the true problem lies. You see politicians, both democrats and republicans, are in bed with businesses and farmers. These businesses/farmers, etc can’t afford to pay workers legally along with the taxes involved in having legal employees and keep their cost down so the translation here would be if we legalize these jobs then our cost of goods go up or businesses go under. It’s an ugly little problem and this in a very simplified nut shell is why no sitting president or congress has been able to pass any kind of real immigration reform. I have no idea how we solve this problem and I have really only scratched the surface of the issue but I do know that this sham of a bill in Arizona is not going to make a bit of difference other then boosting the ratings of talk shows, scaring the Latino population in Arizona and sending illegal immigrants further into hiding in this country.
Attached below are links to a few good articles on this subject plus links to the actual bill.
Please comment with your thoughts and ideas.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/the-arizona-of-2010-is-th_b_551062.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/04/arizonas_shameful_immigration.html?referrer=emaillink
Bill
http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf
Summary of Bill:
http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/summary/s.1070pshs.doc.htm
What kind of legislation would actually make a difference in immigration are the questions and answers we should be seeking. What do you do with the estimated 8-12 million or more illegal people here already? You can’t round them up and ship them off to Mexico, Cuba, China and other countries of origin because it would cost trillions of dollars and it would take forever. And in the particular case of Mexico they are part of the problem. They are overrun by drug lords and a corrupt government, they have little industry and a huge population. Can you blame people for wanting to come across the boarder to America, the land of opportunity? I don’t know about you but if I had the choice of living in abject poverty in Mexico, becoming a drug mule or literally working for pennies a day or I could come to America illegally and make some decent cash I know what options and risks I would take. And when you look at the situation in this light it also becomes a humanitarian issue. Not so simple is it? That’s right this is complicated, far more complicated then profiling someone’s skin color and tossing them back over the boarder. Maybe in Arizona they will catch 1000 people with this new law and big deal we will still have 11, 999,000 more illegal people in this country. Teaspoon to oil slick folks, it’s just not going to make a difference. These are some of the questions we should be asking and as far as the answers, I definitely don’t have all of them but here are some ideas. You legalize as many of these aliens as possible as long as they don’t have a criminal record here or in Mexico. You give them green cards and put them on the path to citizen ship. You force them to pay taxes and get jobs at minimum wage or higher and you force employers to hire people legally and pay the taxes involved in having legal employees. The argument is these aliens are taking jobs away from hard working Americans. The truth is these aliens make it possible for employers to pay them at substandard wages and employers don’t have to pay taxes for these employees since they are off the books. Therefore they are not taking jobs away from Americans because Americans would never be hired for these jobs in the first place. The next step is to close our boarders in some real sense. I heard Ed Shultz interviewing Pat Buchanan on the radio today about having the National Guard patrol our boarders or the US Army. Not a bad idea in my book. Instead of spending billions on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan let’s bring some of these troops home and have them close off our boarders in Texas, California and Arizona. If they can bring order to Iraq then surely the can bring some order to the US boarders. This would make a huge difference in stopping illegal aliens from entering the country not to mention it would put a major dent in stopping illegal drugs and the people shipping them into this country as well. Now take all of this and ask congress to pass some sort of reasonable immigration reform and you will see where the true problem lies. You see politicians, both democrats and republicans, are in bed with businesses and farmers. These businesses/farmers, etc can’t afford to pay workers legally along with the taxes involved in having legal employees and keep their cost down so the translation here would be if we legalize these jobs then our cost of goods go up or businesses go under. It’s an ugly little problem and this in a very simplified nut shell is why no sitting president or congress has been able to pass any kind of real immigration reform. I have no idea how we solve this problem and I have really only scratched the surface of the issue but I do know that this sham of a bill in Arizona is not going to make a bit of difference other then boosting the ratings of talk shows, scaring the Latino population in Arizona and sending illegal immigrants further into hiding in this country.
Attached below are links to a few good articles on this subject plus links to the actual bill.
Please comment with your thoughts and ideas.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/the-arizona-of-2010-is-th_b_551062.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/04/arizonas_shameful_immigration.html?referrer=emaillink
Bill
http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf
Summary of Bill:
http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/summary/s.1070pshs.doc.htm
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